Sean N

People do seem to ask a lot of money for trucks, particularly post war stuff. I think it reflects the increase in the price of wartime vehicles and classic cars. I've seen Goddesses anywhere between £2000 and £10000 recently. I do wonder a lot of the time whether these things actually sell though. Auction prices may tend to be lower than market value, perhaps, but basically sound RLs needing tidying seem to make in the £1500 to £2500 range at auction (including eBay).

No, there is no difference in the rating, they still gross the same; it's just that there's an exemption under the driver licencing rules that allows you to drive an LGV first manufactured before January 1st 1960 used unladen and not drawing a laden trailer on your normal car licence. As you say, if you had a newer one you would have to downplate it. VOSA may have the requirements on record, otherwise you would have to contact someone knowledgeable to find out what to do. Downplating is normally fairly straightforward on Bedfords.

Bill, they don't weigh 6 tonnes, they gross 6 tonnes (a bit over, in fact) - i.e. truck and load. Winchman (what is your name?), you have good taste in trucks IMO! Too late now but a clutch is easy on an RL. One will come up, they've been appearing at auction quite regularly for around £2k or less.

K9s are good trucks apart from the cab rust, but that's true for most '50s vehicles. They're rather smaller than an RL - nominally a 1 ton truck, and actually gross a bit over 6 tonnes. 4 litre petrol engine will get you around 15 - 18 mpg unless you have a heavy right foot. Crash gearbox, but quite a decent one. Good off road in my experience. Alternatively if you go more modern there's the Bedford MK / MJ and the Leyland DAF 4x4, though you're unlikely to get the latter at least within your budget. For me the MK / MJ are a bit underpowered; the 330's a decent engine but isn't particularly torquey. Early Unimog 400 series might be a possibility, I'm not sure what soft cab petrol 404s make now but they used to be very cheap. Very good trucks. Morris Commercial MRA1 is equivalent to the K9 but much more primitive, can be picked up cheap if they come up. 1 ton Humber is a good truck but has some weak spots, is stupidly thirsty by comparison and I suspect a decent one will be beyond your budget - a poor one is unlikely to be much more than a pile of red dust on top of a pair of axles. Commer Q4s look good but IMO not a patch on an RL. A bargain basement Renault / Dodge RB44 might be a possibility as mentioned earlier, though I've spent far too many hours trying to sort out the brakes on Dodge trucks to feel enthusiastic about them.

In both cases all you really need to worry about looking for is cab rust.

The twin wheel RLs are a higher gross weight - if I remember correctly, 10.2 tonnes instead of 8.8. Obviously the smaller tyres will reduce ground clearance a touch and shorten the gearing. As Richard correctly says (of course), the brake drums are exposed on a single wheel RL as the wheels are reversed and there's a lot of offset on the wheel.

This is all news to me! Back when I was doing lots of engine changes (like for like as well as petrol to diesel etc.) it always used to be a big fight to actually get DVLA to change anything on the V5 - the number of times I've had to send a V5 back to them to get changes to 'stick'...

Should go with the QLT really? Well done for not only putting in the effort to save this lot but on finding homes for it all so quickly!

Could the tank go up between the chassis rails somewhere? Painted black wouldn't be obvious and might just look like a rather oversize air tank. Keep it well away from propshafts, suspension components etc. - there's a LOT of articulation on an RL!

Interesting to see the CES crate for this vehicle in the photos of the bits & pieces: Is all the equipment for the vehicle still in there?

Someone I know recently had an LPG conversion done on an S-type coach and is very pleased with it. I don't think there were any issues with the valves. In general, I think there are three things to consider with an LPG conversion - first, the practicalities of the conversion - how will it fit, do you have to have it done professionally, certification, insurance and so on. Second, the type of conversion, particularly single point or multi point injection and the like. Third, conversion costs - a lot of people do diesel or LPG conversions on vehicles almost as a kneejerk reaction to the cost and poor economy of a petrol engine and then spend more converting the vehicle than they ever would have spent on petrol in its lifetime. If as you say you can get it done 'on the cheap' you have a good solution to that!

What John said. The only time I've been cold is towing one with no engine in snow.

It may not be necessary to join a club; the insurance may be asking either because there's a space on the form or sometimes because they offer extra discount for club members. Having said that, joining the right club can be a great help. As for the RL, they're great fun vehicles. Don't feel intimidated, fibreglass the door bottoms if you need to, and just go out and enjoy it!

The French News Online article Bruce refers to is here: http://www.french-news-online.com/wordpress/?p=26765#axzz3K9mjHnST and Bruce's Flickr stream is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39398090@N08/

Answered in your other thread.

The Matador was at Pattemore's as I said; it was behind a Mk V cab AEC the same colours. Shame about the Martians, they were both in really good condition. I was going to buy both of them, drove down there with batteries, fuel and cash but the guy that owned them at the time turned up an hour late and then demanded a £1500 non returnable deposit before he'd even let me start them, so needless to say I gave him a piece of my mind and walked away. Would have had a lot more than scrap money for them as well - his loss.

Perhaps he was a bit naïve, but the Telegraph article doesn't say how he bought the watch - in particular if it was an auction listing and he got 'lucky', it may well have gone for less than the true value. The thrust of the article is more to do with eBay's handling of the complaint than the watch itself though, and I have to say it seems to me typical of eBay's very limited resolution procedure, poor customer service and laissez faire attitude.

What body is on this truck? Do you have a photo of it? Is the chassis number from the chassis itself or the Ministry of Supply chassis plate? If so, is there a Vauxhall Motors chassis plate on the outside of the passenger seat base and what it the chassis number given as on that?

Ah. so there's independent confirmation, that's interesting to know. I guessed they must be new or nearly new and of course the post-war situation justified demand, but even so that amount of money seemed disproportionately high. It is an astronomical price - what, 2 to 4 or 8 times modern equivalent? Some people obviously had very deep pockets!

Possibly, but since it's going to be very difficult to determine or measure exposure for the average user and it's banned anyway it's probably academic. John, was that an outcome of the blasting?!! :shocked:

Dave, if you put a painted sample up against the panel they scanned from is the match close or not? The trouble is there are so many opportunities to get a paint mix wrong, let alone any variations or fading in the original colours. I've seen plenty of mixes in the past where the supplier's sworn blind they were mixed to the recipe, but later turned out they'd forgotten one pigment or put double the amount of another in.

What Chris said. http://www.hse.gov.uk/press%5C2008/coinw01708.htm, http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/cn7.pdf

Charlie, it'd be worth trying soda. My experience of it (contrary to Paul's!) is that it lifts paint well; it's non-damaging to the metal surface; it's non-damaging to components; it's non-toxic and easy to dispose of; and it leaves a residue which prevents flash rusting for a week or two. Disdvantages are that it won't lift rust and you have to rinse off before painting. All of this does depend somewhat on what blasting equipment and compressor / airflow you have.

Selling in guineas, I notice, and a Foden 10 ton 6x4 making an extraordinary 2600 Gns (£2730). That's nearly £100,000 based on RPI or £242,000 based on relative earnings! Must be an error noting it down, surely? Would a TSM Coach be a Tilling Stevens?

To be honest I'd have to have another look, Clive. Give me a day or two. I've seen them painted in blue, DBG and black in the past though. I think a few of these may be part painted where they've been re-used and the old VRN has been painted out.